Bay Swim Training you ask?

So when I went to prepare for the Bay swim there was not a lot out there in terms of training plans.  Pretty much what I gained from researching this was the following:  Swim.  A lot.  And then swim some more.

Thankfully I had the advice and knowledge I could pull from my friend Katie who had done this event twice.  Unfortunately for her, she had to deal with my Type A nonsense as I prepared for this event.  (Seriously Katie, thanks so much for putting up with my shit.)

So like any dutiful Type A-er, I record pretty much ALL of my training.  I have three books for the past three seasons where I have recorded my training.  This is the book I use, and I love it.  It is wonderful:

The inside is even better:

So yes, if you are looking for a good way to track your workouts-consider using this training diary.  I love.  So onto what you really want to know.  What did I actually do to prepare for the bay?  In retrospect, NOT ENOUGH. 

I started tracking my training in February.  This was also combined with my base building for Ironman, but I also knew I would need to really start laying the foundation for the Bay Swim.  So I am going to just lay out my weekly/monthly totals for yards I swam:

Feb 24-3/2: 6,400 yards

3/3-3/9: 9,000 yards
3/10-3/16: 6,000 yards
3/17-3/23: 10,077 yards
3/24-3/30: 10,834 yards
(20.4 miles total in March)

4/1-4/6: 6,952
4/8-4/13: 11,600 yds  (long swim=6,500 one workout)
4/15-4/20: 11,100 yds (long swim=7,100 yards)
4/22-4/27: 12,700 yds (long swim=8,000 yds)
(April totals: 24 miles)

First week of May I was on vacation.  I did not swim.  Nope, not at all.
5/13-5/18: 15,200 yds (long swim= 8,000)
5/20-5/25: 10,200 yds (long swim=8,000)
5/27-6/1: 3,000
I had to drastically cut back the last two weeks due to cutting myself and needing to give it time to heal.  This was extremely frustrating, but I also know that had I not done this, who knows what bacteria I could have picked up from the bay...

So looking back there are definitely a lot of things I would do differently.  First, I would start swimming the longer distances earlier.  I only got in three 8,000 yd swims (the Bay is 7,777 I think) and I do not think this was enough.  I was just aiming to finish, but now having one bay under my belt, I would aim to increase my long swims to at least 10,000 in one workout.  I tried to do this, but it is definitely tough mentally to do this type of training. 

The way I scheduled my workouts included mostly a tues/frid/sunday plan.  I would swim around 3,000-4,000 on the tuesdays and sundays.  Fridays would be my long swim day and I would go after work.  That is how it worked out best for me.  Also playing into this was the fact that I am in ironman training.  That definitely played a major role in preparing because I was not JUST swimming.  I was also running and biking. 

I definitely learned a lot when training for this and I am still not sure if I will want to do the Bay swim again.  It was a wonderful experience and I am so happy that I do do it, but...again? We shall see.